AbstractBackground: Diabetes is a very common complication seen during pregnancy. Infants born to diabetic mothers are at a higher risk for hypoglycemia. Monitoring for hypoglycemia is necessary, but the duration and the frequency has yet to be determined. Objective: To estimate the magnitude of hypoglycemia among infants of diabetic mothers and to determine how long the glucose level has to be monitored for those infants. Materials and Methods: The retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary newborn centre from January 2016 to January 2018. The inclusion criteria included all babies above 34 weeks gestation and exclusion criteria included babies admitted in NICU, with mothers on glucose infusions during delivery, on beta blockers and on anti- epileptic drugs. Total 444 infants of diabetic mothers were recruited in the present study. Descriptive analysis like mean and standard deviation were done for quantitative variables. ANOVA (Analysis of variances) test was used to compare mean capillary blood glucose values. Results: Out of 444 infant studied, only four (0.9%) had hypoglycemia in the first 6 hours of life. All babies achieved normal glucose values by 12 hours of postnatal age, yet sampling continued although none of the remaining results yielded values < 40 mg/dL Conclusion: Glucose screening can be discontinued for all babies if feeding has been initiated and the initial three pre-feed values are above the normal range. For babies that are small for gestational age/ growth restricted (SGA/IUGR), monitoring should be tailored according to the baby’s feeding pattern and growth.
Keywords: Hypoglycemia; Diabetes.